No threat of cooling disconnection in Palm's Marina Residences

Nakheel to refill swimming pools, in talks with OA to find solutions

By

Parag Deulgaonkar

PublishedFriday, June 22, 2012

The six “emptied” and “closed” swimming pools in the upscale Marina Residences on the Palm Jumeirah, will be opened “as soon as possible” following collection of some service charge dues from owners, Nakheel has said.

Residents, who spoke to Emirates 24/7, said they were informed that all the pools will be refilled and opened next week. Few of them also claimed that district cooling would not be shut down and they were informed of the decision by the district cooling provider.

“We were told on Wednesday that they had collected some dues and were paying the service providers. And so the swimming were likely to open by next week,” said a resident on conditions of anonymity.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the developer said: “Nakheel has released funds to service providers at Marina Residences, following the collection of some of the outstanding service fees at the development.”

It added that they had released funds to allow common area facilities – such as cooling and pools – to continue.

“The pool contractor is now back on site and facilities will be back to normal as soon as possible,” a company spokesperson said.

However, Nakheel emphasized that “millions of dirhams” remained unpaid by some owners and it will continue to work with the owners association to collect the dues and address the issue of defaulters.

“It is wrong that some owners pay their way while others do not,” the spokesperson added.

An owner, who asked not to reveal his name, said: “A few days back we were informed of a possibility of district cooling being switched off due to non-payment, but that possibility has been ruled out by the cooling company.”

On the disconnection of district cooling, Nakheel said service charges at Marina Residences cover communal facilities such as cooling.

“Bills need to be paid just like for any other utility in Dubai – such as water, electricity, phone and internet services. Nakheel itself is not the utility provider, and cannot physically cut services, but utility providers themselves can if they don’t get paid. We are working with the owners association on payment and default issues, and are confident of a solution.”